World News Quick Take

Agencies

AUSTRIA

Shell prompts evacuation

Austrian state broadcaster ORF reported a tank shell was on offer as a dummy on a trading Web site. It says police had to clear a Vienna apartment house of its residents and put up road blocks after establishing that it was in fact a fully functional explosive. Thursday’s report said police were called to examine the shell by its new owner shortly after she had exchanged two bottles of wine and a picture frame for it. ORF said the shell’s previous owner had used it as a doorstop. The report says both women face unspecified criminal charges.

SOUTH AFRICA

Lion protest ban quashed

A South African court ruled on Thursday it was unconstitutional to ban an advertising campaign by an activist group urging South African President Jacob Zuma to stop the trade in lion bones. The adverts at Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo International Airport, the country’s main port of entry, featured a lioness looking down the barrel of a gun with the text “President Zuma can save her life.” Airport authorities pulled down the posters in August last year, just nine days into campaign group Avaaz’s month-long contract. The Johannesburg High Court ordered that the adverts be reinstated after Avaaz accused Airports Company South Africa of violating its right to freedom of expression.

UNITED STATES

Toxic tush ‘surgeon’ jailed

A transgender US woman who claimed to be a surgeon and reportedly injected adhesives and cement into a woman’s bottom was sentenced on Thursday to a year in jail. Oneal Ron Morris, 32, accepted a plea deal for one count of illegal practice of healthcare in what became known as the “toxic tush” case, in Miami Gardens, Florida. Another suit is pending against Morris, involving the death of a woman who was one of her patients. Prosecutors said on Thursday they could not determine exactly what substances Morris injected in women.

UKRAINE

Boxer to run for president

Heavyweight boxer and opposition politician Vitaly Klitschko said on Thursday he would run for president in 2015. Klitschko, 42, the reigning World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight champion, made his declaration to parliament after its deputies — predominantly from the ruling Party of Regions and its allies — amended a law on tax legislation in a way that could be used to prevent him from running for the presidency. He is the first declared contender against incumbent President Viktor Yanukovych, who is widely expected to seek a second term despite a slump in popularity because of Ukraine’s faltering economy. The 2m tall Klitschko said: “Everything that has taken place in parliament today with texts of laws, directly backed by ruling party deputies, does not intimidate me and will not stop me."